Transesterification of an ester moiety with an alcohol component is known to proceed according to the scheme: ##STR1## The reaction is an equilibrium reaction, that can be driven to completion by removal of the evolved alcohol especially if it is a lower molecular weight alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. Transesterification is an especially suitable reaction for producing thermoset coatings because the lower alcohols evolved during the cure easily pass out of the coating and allow the reaction to go to completion. Highly crosslinked films result. Several catalyst types are known for transesterification. These include acids, bases, and metal salts of organic acids. A number of patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,847; 4,376,848; 4,332,711; and 4,459,393 describe metal ion complexes and/or metal salts used for promoting transesterification. These are incorporated herein by reference for general exemplification of resinous binder types that can be crosslinked by transesterification and to illustrate the prior art catalysts such as octoates or naphthenates of lead, zinc, calcium, barium, and iron.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,180 Green teaches a process for the transesterification of a carboxylic or carbonic acid ester under transesterification conditions with an alcohol in the presence of either a Group V element containing Lewis base or a cyclic amidine and an epoxide.
Kooijmans et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,847 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,711) teach thermosetting binders for paints comprising a non-acidic hydroxyl-containing resin and a non-acidic polyester having a beta-hydroxyl ester group.
Dante and Parry have shown that phosphonium halides, such as ethyltriphenyl phosphonium iodide, are efficient catalyts for (a) 1,2-epoxide reactions with phenols to yield hydroxy ethers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,990), and (b) polyepoxide reactions with carboxylic acids or acid anhydrides (U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,885). Parry has shown that polyepoxides and phenols can be reacted to form phenolic hydroxy ethers with phosphonium salts as catalysts. The counterion of the phosphonium moiety is the anion portion of a carboxylic acid, or acid ester, such as in ethyltriphenyl phosphonium acetate (U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,855).
Barnhoorn et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,393) teach self-crosslinking thermosetting resin compositions obtained from the reaction of a beta-hydroxyalkyl ester or an alpha,beta-carboxylic acid with a primary mono- or polyamine to give a product having 1 to 2 amino hydrogens and further reacted with a polyglycidyl ether of a polyhydric phenol so that the final resin adduct has more than one beta-hydroxyalkyl ester group and amino groups having 1 to 2 amino hydrogen atoms per molecule.
Subramanyam et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,848) teach the preparation of water dilutable electrocoating compositions having tertiary amino-containing basic binders by reacting a secondary amino group compound with an olefinically double-bonded epoxy and the copolymerization of this product with at least one ethylenically bonded polymerizable monomer wherein said binders can self-cure and be cured in combination with amine resins and/or phenolic resins.
In the powder coatings field there is an ongoing need for improved cure chemistry. The transesterification cure patents noted above suffer from low cure efficiency, high temperature baking schedules, require expensive activated esters, and give poor hydrolytic film stability. Although U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,477,990, 3,547,885 and 3,948,855 teach phosphonium salts as catalysts for epoxy/phenol, epoxy/acid and epoxy/epoxy reactions they did not recognize that the combination catalyst of phosphonium salts with free epoxides are effective transesterification catalysts.